9.0 - Jake Lemoine tossed his first career complete game and finished with a career-high nine strikeouts.

14 - Houston pounded out 14 hits in Game 2's win.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Sophomore Jake Lemoine tossed his first career complete game with a career-high nine strikeouts helping No. 10 Houston Baseball to a Saturday doubleheader split at Rutgers, winning 9-1 in Game 2 after falling 7-3 in Game 1 in American Athletic Conference play.

With the Saturday split and a Game 2 bounce back, the Cougars are now 24-6 on the year and 3-2 in conference play, while Rutgers fell to 11-15 and 3-4 in league action.

GAME 2 - Houston 9, Rutgers 1

Lemoine (9.0,5,1,1,2,9) was dynamite in his start on Saturday as the Bridge City, Texas native fanned a career-high nine Scarlet Knights and went on to win his fifth game of the year - improving to 5-1. Lemoine allowed just one run on five hits and two walks. The complete game was the first of his young Cougar career.

Senior Casey Grayson led the charge with a 3-for-5 performance with two runs scored and four RBI - including a three-run homerun - his team-leading third long ball of the season and his ninth double of the year.

Adding to the offensive mix and having a solid game were freshman Jordan Stading, who finished 2-for-3 with one run scored and two RBI and sophomore Ashford Fulmer (2x3, RBI) - each with runs driven. Sophomores Kyle Survance (2x4, 2 R) and Josh Vidales (2x4, 2 R) each had two hits and two runs scored.

Houston took a 3-0 lead following the third frame on RBI hits by Stading and Grayson. The big inning came in the fifth following a three-hit effort - sparked by a Grayson three-run homerun. The Cougars followed up with another run in the sixth on an RBI-single by Fulmer to go ahead 8-0.

Rutgers struck for one run in the latter half of the sixth on a wind-aided homerun to shallow left, which proved to be the only run of the game for the Scarlet Knights.

Despite allowing that run, Houston rebounded and responded with its ninth run in the top half of the seventh on a RBI-double by Pyeatt for the eight-run lead.

No. 10 HOUSTON(23-6, 2-2)3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Houston

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

1

0

3

8

2

Rutgers

1

0

1

2

0

3

0

0

x

7

11

2

RUTGERS (11-14, 3-3) 7

STATS COMPARISON

Runs

3

7

AB

34

34

Hits

8

11

RBI

3

6

BB

5

1

LOB

11

6

STAT LEADERS

x2

2

H

2

x4

Fulmer

1

2B

1

x3

None

--

3B

1

Marcinczyk

None

--

HR

1

Favatella

Vidales

2

RBI

2

Carter

x3

1

R

2

x2

Survance

2

SB

--

None

PITCHING

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

W - Brey(3-1)

5.0

5

2

2

1

2

L - Garza(6-2)

5.0

10

5

5

0

3

S - Young(6)

1.0

0

0

0

0

1

POSTGAME NOTES

2 - Today's Game 1 loss was just the second road loss for the Cougars this season.

GAME 1 - Rutgers 7, Houston 3

Houston fell in Game 1 as Rutgers used 11 hits and seven runs to take Game 1 of the three-game series over the Cougars.

Houston starter Aaron Garza (5.0,10,5,5,0,3) was touched up a bit as the righty fell to 6-2 on the year after allowing five runs on 10 hits in 5.0 innings to accompany three strikeouts.

Houston had eight hits, led by a two-hit, two RBI game by Vidales. Grayson also showed well with two base hits and a run scored, while Fulmer drove in a run on an RBI-double.

Rutgers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first and then grabbed a 2-0 lead following the third, but it was a Vidales' two-run single that tied the game in the fourth. However, the Scarlet Knights didn't back down as they pounded out four hits for two more runs in the fourth and never looked back.

Rutgers went on to add three more in the sixth. Houston made it interesting in the latter frames, but was only able to push across one run on an RBI by Fulmer in the eighth.

Cobb made his Cougar career debut and was impressive. The righty tossed 2.0-hitless innings without allowing a baserunner for the most productive outing out of the pen on Saturday.

POST-GAME QUOTESHead Coach Todd WhittingOn bouncing back and winning Game 2 of the doubleheader "We needed a good bounce back win. I felt like we didn't even show up in the first game today. Tip your hat to Rutgers in the first game. They came out and played hard and deserved to win that game. I am proud of our guys for coming out and scoring early in the second game and kept adding to it. On the road is tough. It was a little tough with the wind chill and the wind howling at 30 mph. We have to be able to adapt to the atmosphere and go on the road and win games."

On Lemoine's performance "I told Lemoine after the game that his team really needed that. We didn't play well in the first game and we really needed a great pitching performance under horrible pitching conditions. Wind is blowing hard and pop ups are blowing out of here. That was a big outing for him in really bad conditions."

Sophomore Jake LemoineOn his complete game performance "Today I was just trying to pound the zone. My fastball was working for me and I can't say enough about the defensive effort behind me. It always feels good to come out and help your team bounce back after a tough first game."